Lighter Desserts

Rossana's Fruit Salad
Holy Vegan Cookies


Rossana’s Fruit Salad
Rossana, the woman who I lived with in Italy when I was studying abroad, made this fruit salad for me every week, with the fruit changing, depending on what was in season. The key to her fruit salad is to cut up the fruit into rather small pieces and add lots of lemon juice and sugar. Eating a bowl of this fruit instantly brings me back to Rossana’s tiny Italian kitchen table. I ate (and eat) this fruit salad for both breakfast and after dinner for dessert. Certainly this fruit salad can be made with whatever types of fruit that one prefers.


Ingredients
- 2 peaches or nectarines (or 1 apple)
- 2 plums (or 2 kiwi)
- 1 banana
- 3/4 cup grapes
- 2 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

Cut the peaches or nectarines in half, remove the pits, slice into 1/2 thick wedges and then cut each slice to make 1/2 inch pieces. Cut the plums (or the apple) in a similar fashion. If you are using kiwi, cut the top and the bottom off each kiwi and use a sharp paring knife to remove the kiwi skins. Cut the kiwi into 1/2 inch pieces. Slice the grapes in half. Toss all of the fruit together in a medium bowl with the lemon juice and the sugar. Add more lemon juice or sugar depending on how marinated you want the fruit salad to be. The more lemon juice you add the more sugar you must also add. Let the fruit salad marinate in the refrigerator for at least an hour and up to 4 hours. Just before you are ready to serve the salad, peel the banana and cut into 1/2 inch slices. Cut the banana slices in half and gently toss together with the fruit salad.



Holy Vegan Cookies
Quite often I “veganize” muffin or cookie recipes by replacing the butter with canola oil and the egg with mashed banana. Depending on what I am making, I even substitute the white flour for a more hearty flour and the sugar for agave. Rarely do I ever write the recipe down or bother to remember what I had added or subtracted to a recipe in the past, which consequently varies my finished product.
On one specific occasion, I made a batch of oatmeal raisin cookies (with dark chocolate chips) for my mom to take to a church group outing. The Deacon, who was part of the day trip, apparently became quite fond of these dairy free cookies and asked for the recipe. Unfortunately, I did not have the recipe to pass on to him. For the next four months each time my mom ran into the Deacon, he kindly reminded her that he wanted the recipes for the cookies. and Ultimately I was convinced to retrace my steps and remake the cookies, and this time, writing it down for the Deacon. We therefore named these cookies ‘Holy Vegan Cookies.’
This recipe is a great base for vegan or non-vegan oatmeal cookies. Here I have added good quality semi sweet chocolate chips (that just so happen to be dairy free) and raisins. Pecans, macadamia nuts, dried cherries, golden raisins, dried apricots or other types of chocolate would also be good in these slightly healthier and heartier, oatmeal vegan cookies.


Ingredients
- 3 cups old fashion oats
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup canola oil
- 1 cup raisins
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large bowl mix together the canola oil, brown sugar and granulated sugar. Add the vanilla extract and the mashed banana and mix until combined.
In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
Add the dry ingredients to the banana/oil mixture and gently stir until combined, being careful not to over mix the dough. Finally, stir in the oats, raisins and chocolate chips.
Drop tablespoon size drops of cookie dough onto unlined baking sheets 2 inches apart and bake for 10-13 minutes or until the cookies are light golden brown. Remove the pan from the oven and let the cookies cool on the pan for 1 minute and then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool. Store the cool cookies in an airtight container for up to 2 days.